Reds 6, Astros 1: Cincy gets the best of Rodriguez the second time around

Aneury Rodriguez had seen the Reds five days earlier and shut them down, allowing one hit in five scoreless innings on the banks of the Ohio River.

But he had also been seen by the Reds five days earlier, and that factor might have prevailed as the Astros were routed by the Reds 6-1 back home Monday night at Minute Maid Park.

The Reds pounded Rodriguez almost from the beginning, recording four hits the first time through the order and four hits the second time through. In all, Rodriguez would stumble to five runs allowed in five innings, losing his first major league decision.

“I think you saw how quickly they jumped on some pitches real early in the count — the first or second pitch. They weren’t letting him get ahead,” manager Brad Mills said. “Last week, he was getting ahead.”

Cincinnati manager Dusty Baker, whose staff schooled the Reds on the tall righthander after last week’s troubles, had a similar take.

“The first time, it’s in his favor because you don’t know much about him,” Baker said. “There’s a good chance he’s been watching you a lot on video and different things. It’s a lot easier when you’ve faced them before, and it’s even easier when you face them in a short period of time, because it’s really fresh in your mind and your memory of what he’s doing.”

The decisive blow was cast not by Joey Votto, who wasn’t even in the lineup, nor by Jay Bruce, Drew Stubbs or any of the Reds’ other big bats. No, it was a third-inning three-run homer by pitcher Travis Wood, a no-doubter deep into the Crawford Boxes, that provided everything the visitors would need and more.

Pitchers’ best friends

With Wood’s home run, Carlos Zambrano’s blast on April 13 off Fernando Abad and Yovani Gallardo’s April 22 shot against Nelson Figueroa, the Astros have served up more than half of the National League’s five home runs by pitchers.

The third-smallest crowd in Minute Maid Park history, announced at 20,174, hushed and then in large part departed after the Reds made it 5-0 on a two-run homer in the fourth by Ramon Hernandez, who was not in the lineup the last time Cincinnati saw Rodriguez.

Asked if seeing the Reds five days earlier may have changed his night as a whole, Rodriguez simply put the blame on bad pitches.

“The first two innings started really good, and after that, I started missing a lot of pitches,” he said.

Hernandez’s homer, also to left field, was just gravy. The Astros were getting buckets full of nothing from beginning to end with the exception of a Hunter Pence home run in the eighth inning that went off Bruce’s glove into the first row in right field.

Wood stifled the Astros for 6 2⁄3 innings, obviously not adversely affected as Rodriguez was by having pitched in the same matchup five days earlier.

Wood allowed six hits and put up all zeros after heading into this start with a 6.21 ERA. And perhaps just as important as scattering those hits, Wood walked only one batter.

“They got him a lead, and it’s a little bit easier to pitch when you’ve got a lead than when you’re pitching in a close ballgame when you feel like one swing of the bat can hurt you,” said Bill Hall, who doubled, struck out and popped out against Wood.

The lefthander departed in the seventh with two men on in the Astros’ only real threat of the night before the Pence home run. But after Michael Bourn singled to load the bases against Bill Bray, J.R. Towles, who had been moved up to the No. 2 spot, grounded out to end the inning and keep the Astros’ deficit at 6-0.

Cincinnati kid stuff

The Astros have lost three straight games to fall to a National League-worst 13-22 and are 1-6 against the defending National League Central champion Reds to start their 15-game season series.

There were few left to see the end.

The loudest cheer seemed to be for a fan throwing back a foul ball, while the loudest boo was when a Reds fan caught a foul ball and flaunted the logo of the 19-16 ballclub.